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New post Choosing Your Career Path: In-House Marketing versus Agency

I wanted to share this post from PR at Sunrise. I have often wondered about working In-House vs Agency. While I college, I interned In-House for the PR department of the YWCA of Bergen County. They really provided a hands on internship experience and allowed me to see what goes on in a typical work day.
Making the decision of where to work is an important one that shouldn’t be taken lightly in the building of your career. So which on is for you? In-house or Agency?

New post on PR at Sunrise

Agencies and in-house PR/marketing departments each have their pros and cons, and either can provide a tremendous experience for aspiring marketers.

The following are some of the differences between in-house and agency work that I have experienced:

Scope of Attention

In-house employees know the ins and outs of the companies they work for, as their attention is completely devoted to one company and its clients. This expertise enables even the most junior person to bring value to the company. In an agency, the time spent with clients can vary, and contribution may be project specific. Publicists tend to be generalists, and their company-specific knowledge pales to that of someone in-house.

Variety of Work

In-house, the variety of one’s work is limited to one company, while publicists in agencies have their hands full with the campaigns of various clients. The plethora of clients allows newcomers to experience many aspects of PR that come with servicing different accounts, while in-housers only experience the strategies that their company employs.

Requests of Clients

While the agencies service businesses and individuals who entrust them with campaigns, in-house marketing departments service partners and clients of the company. The greatest liability is always on the marketing department, and not the agency of the firm. Executing an unsuccessful strategy or crisis management campaign may result in the loss of one client in an agency, while the same may translate to the loss of many clients in-house.

Pace

The pace of the agency tends to be faster and more versatile than the pace of a company, as many companies mimic their industry. Consider the type of environment you’d like to work in when evaluating whether in-house or agency is right for you.

About the AuthorMarina Tsipenyuk is marketing professional with experience in the financial services, music, and beauty industries. She graduated from Rutgers Business School in May 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. Marina has worked in the marketing department of a fund of hedge funds and interned in a Public Relations firm during her time in Rutgers. Connect with her on Twitter via @msipen.

A Dove's Flight

A Dove's Flight is about the life of a 20 something year old publicist working in the industry while maintaining a 9-5. She is also becoming more in tune with other areas of media and branding. This is your destination for insights on PR, industry events, fashion, social media, beauty reviews and non profit brands. Prepare to take flight.